


when youth and blood are warmer

by driedvoices



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 06:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedvoices/pseuds/driedvoices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the <a href="http://kh-drabble.livejournal.com">kh_drabble</a> prompt [258]: the past. Once upon a time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when youth and blood are warmer

Once upon a time, she was a princess. She lived in a castle and played in the mild sunshine until her eyes grew weary. She listened to her grandmother's stories of worlds too distant and foreign to be real to her, and her breathing would slow and even out before the stories ever ended. Once upon a time, she was caught in a storm of stars, each of them dancing manically around her until they all blinked out in a cold rush of fire. The blackness around her turned wet and she was drowning in the sky, in a world that wasn't real. From the foam and sand she rose like Aphrodite reborn, and she saw with new eyes and pushed old visions out of her head. Once upon a time, she loved and was loved, and waiting never ended. She still doesn't know if it has.

Once upon a time, there was a boy with too big a heart to fit under one horizon. He was born into an unbearably claustrophobic corner of the universe, but he bore it all the same because it was up to him to keep it held together tightly. He was free in his imprisonment, among the waves and the sand, among the sky and stars. Once upon a time, he was free to have heroes, to ignore the faults of the people he loved, and by ignoring, invalidate them. Once upon a time, he was afraid and brave all at once, and the contradiction inside him nearly tore him in two. His hero fell, and his corner of the world dissolved with it. New worlds engulfed him, with all their brightness and fury, and his heart, for the first time, felt spread too thin. He died once, for love, and came back all wrong. He searched far and wide for the piece of him that would make him whole, but when he found it, it had a new name and face and he felt like crying, even after the mask came off. He still does, sometimes.

Once upon a time, he was lonely. Bursts of light sliced through his solemnity: one a boy with eyes like the sun and a smile that would bring crowds to his feet; one in the shape of a girl whose heart was pure and whose hands were warm; one who was quite neither, but the strongest, noblest king he had ever imagined. Once upon a time, he was lost. Empty space swallowed him, and he forced himself through it – not because he earned the suffering, but because he had earned what came after. He fought darkness and light, enemies and allies, and he strayed so far that he even lost his name. Once upon a time, they found him, no matter how hard he tried to run, and they were there to tell him he was stupid to try. He had golden-eyed nightmares and cold sweats, the kind that he didn't think would get better with time. They never do.

Once upon a time, they were children.


End file.
